Glyphosate is probably the most widely used herbicide in the world. It is also the most controversial. Why? For one, it is the herbicide that crops like canola, corn and soy have been genetically...
In 1858 in Bradford, England, 200 people became ill from eating peppermint lozenges. Unfortunately, 18 of them died within a week. The cause? Arsenic poisoning! At the time calcium sulfate ...
Back in the 1930s a flower merchant with a greenhouse full of carnations got worried when the weather forecast called for extremely cold temperatures. So he placed a kerosene burner in the...
“Syndets” were originally developed by chemists to eliminate a problem commonly found with soap, namely “scum” formation. Soaps, unlike detergents, react with dissolved minerals in water to form an...
I wonder if Ms. Hari would ever consider taking aspirin. If she found out that it is made from petroleum, probably not. For some reason she considers petroleum to be a substance that comes from...
We live in a fascinating, complex chemical world. Smell that cup of coffee and you are sniffing hundreds of compounds! A whiff in the bathroom will add about three hundred, many of them such as...
Yes she is! Thousands and thousands of them. Let’s just do a little experiment. Take a drop of her blood, or of course anyone else’s, and subject it to chemical analysis. Here’s just a small...
The place was Edinburgh, Scotland. The occasion, the Edinburgh Science Festival. There were a number of captivating presentations, but my biggest thrill came from looking out the hotel window. A...
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